Weekend wrap: Senate stalling and taxing lies

In an appearance on CTV’s Question Period Sunday morning, Deputy House leader Peter Van Loan accused the NDP of stalling on Senate reform.

“As you know we have a bill like that before the House right now that would establish term limits and would allow for Canadians to have a say in picking their Senators. We had hoped for greater support from the Opposition,” he told host Kevin Newman.

The Conservatives have a majority in the House, and its majority in the Senate was bolstered with five appointments earlier this month. The government could ensure the reforms they’d like to see are implemented, but Van Loan insisted the bill should be debated properly, and fully, in the House of Commons.

“Being an item of important democratic reform like that, we do think it’s important that it be allowed for proper debate,” he said. The NDP have “indicated they’re going to defend the status quo and do everything they can to stop that bill from passing, which is unfortunate.”

Senate reform has been a longstanding goal for the Harper government. In 2011, the government introduced the Senate Reform Act that would limit the terms of Senators and implement a system of non-binding elections.

The bill has seen opposition within the House from the NDP and Liberals as well as opposition outside the House from the provinces who want more say in changes to the Senate. Some provincial governments — including those in Ontario and Nova Scotia — would prefer the Senate be abolished altogether.

Carbon tax red herring

On Global’s The West Block, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said the Conservatives “are lying” when they warn the NDP wants to impose a destructive carbon tax.

“That is an ethical issue Stephen Harper is going to have to deal with because he knows his MPs are lying when they say that,” Mulcair told host Tom Clark.

Instead of putting a tax on carbon emissions, Mulcair said he supports a cap and trade plan, one that allocates pollution credits to emitters.

The Conservative party campaigned on a similar cap and trade plan, including it in the 2008 Throne Speech.

“In 2008 Harper ran on a campaign platform that included a cap and trade system,” Mulcair added. “What I’ve talked about during the leadership and what the NDP has talked about is the very same cap and trade system that the Conservatives talked about.”

“It’s not something that’s dignified, and Stephen Harper, if he has an ounce of ethics on these things, will call his MPs to account and tell them to stop lying,” Mulcair said.

A recent memo sent out by the Conservative party warned against “the threat posed by Thomas Mulcair’s risky and dangerous economic plan” and stated that “Canadian families know that a tax on carbon is a tax on everything and therefore a tax on everyone.”

A number of ministers and Conservative MPs have echoed these statements since the memo was released.